Susan in Texas

Message

#1 Post by **ghiarev** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 9:06 pm

Good news at my appointment today! Next time I go I get to have the lower saggital taken out. It's an expander appliance with a screw to create space forward and backward. I had a removable one up top with two screws that I got to stop use of a couple of months ago. Woohoo! Progress.

Next time we're going to remove the saggital, remove my lower lingual retainer that's been in place since I was 16 (I'm 39 now), and add brackets to my bottom teeth. I'm also going to have impressions made for an NTI to help with my migraines. It's going to be a long appointment, but I'm always happy to feel like I'm making progress.

One of my friends insists I'm going to miss the lower sag after having it for 6 months. No way!

#2 Post by **Kristine** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 9:24 pm

Hello and good luck! I hope you find some relief from your migraines. They're awful.

#3 Post by **Dodger(UK)** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 2:22 pm

Yes good luck for the rest of your treatment, Susan

#4 Post by **drrick** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 2:36 pm

the NTI works wonderfully for migraines.

I made one for my assistant about 2 yrs ago andshe hasnt had a migraine since.

#5 Post by **ghiarev** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 9:53 pm

It's thanks to you, Dr. Rick, that I'm getting one.

A friend of mine told me about the NTI last year, but I had just had the braces put on. When you recently posted the link on the old board on how to modify the NTI around the brackets, I printed the info out for my ortho. He called the lab, and the we're on our way.

I'm anxious to see if I'll be able to get off some of the meds I'm on.

#6 Post by **ghiarev** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 3:52 pm

I had an appointment today, but I didn't get the lower saggital removed. The ortho removed the outer bars and springs, though. He decided to leave it in place to act as an anchor to pull my 6's back toward my 7's. He said that once those were together, they could be tied off, and then the appliance could be removed, and I would get brackets on the rest of the lowers. So I got brackets on the 6's with power chains to the 7's.

A good surprise was the removal of the Nance appliance on the upper. The 6's and 7's up top are now wired together with power chains to pull the 5's back. I also have a power chain across my front two teeth to eliminate a gap that had opened up in spite of them being wired together.
Once the 5's are next to the 6's, I'll have implants between the 3's and the 5's.

[For those wondering, my 4's were extracted when I had braces as a kid and my wisdom teeth were pulled as an adult when I couldn't get to them with a toothbrush. Dentist quote: "They're almost in your ears." I'm lucky they were the same size as regular teeth.]

So, no NTI yet. Still living with migraines and heavy duty drugs. Topamax is working pretty well at preventing them, though.

#7 Post by **ghiarev** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 2:13 pm

The lower saggital is out!! I went in for what I thought was a simple check and ended up getting the appliance taken out and brackets placed on all but one of my lower teeth. It is so nice to have the inside of my mouth free of appliances. I couldn't wait to take a toothbrush to teeth I haven't been able to brush the backs of in 7 months.

The saggital opened up space on the right side mostly right where it's supposed to be for my new tooth to go, but on the left there's space between all the teeth. So my ortho didn't put a bracket on the 4 and put a spring from the 3 to the 5 to push the 5 back. I guess it's really 3 to 6, since I have no 4's.

Up top, my front two teeth are tied together under the archwire with a wire tie, and then I have powerchains 1-2-3 on both sides and then springs from 3 to 4(5 really). Same situation as lower, with the missing 4's.

I'm going to be popping the ibuprofen the next couple of days and taking care of canker sores, but it's always nice to see progress.

I forgot to ask about the impressions for the NTI.

#8 Post by **ghiarev** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 8:41 am

One of my new brackets came off the first day. I go in next week to have it put back on. No biggie.

Today, however, I look like I've had some bad collagen injections. My lower lip is all swollen. I didn't mind this so much when my upper lip was puffy at first because it's a little thin, but this is kind of funny looking.

Small children like my shiny teeth. Teens with braces think I'm cool because we can talk about what color tie backs we're getting and where the springs are and how often we've had to use wax, etc. Adults rarely comment unless they see I've changed my ligature color.

If this second year goes as quickly as the first, they'll be off in no time.

#9 Post by **ghiarev** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:40 pm

After almost 24 years, my ortho removed my lower retainer today (a lingual bar bonded to the 3's). When I told him how long it had been fixed in place he laughed and said, "they just don't make bonds like they used to."

For the last couple of months we've been pretty much doing the same thing to open up the last few millimeters of space for the implants. We're going to do the lowers first and fit the uppers around. The right side is good, but I've still got a little ways to go on the left. Springs and powerchains all over.

I miss Jennifer, the tech who worked on me for more than a year. The doc says she's been having health problems and had to have surgery. Now there's a new person every time. Today the two people who worked on me treated me as if I were a practice dummy, lots of pushing and pulling. One had acrylic nails and they hurt! She was more careful after I mentioned it to her. Yep, I miss Jennifer. Next time, I think I'll ask the doc if he'll take care of the putting the ties on. He has before because of all the springs.

#10 Post by **ghiarev** » Mon Mar 28, 2005 10:18 pm

After all this time, I still don't have an NTI. My neurologist has adjusted my migraine meds (Effexor and Topamax) so I'm back down to 1 or 2 migraines per week.

At my appointment today, they took a lower impression for a retainer with "flippers" on it. I understood this to mean fake teeth in the places where I will eventually have implants. The ortho said this was to help line things up properly. Once the lowers are all done, then he'll fit the uppers around them.

It's so cool to know I'm making progress. I don't have one of those nifty counters on my posts, but I'm down to $800 from $4000 on payments.